The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors that have signal contacts and ground shields that electrically shield the signal contacts from one another.
Communication systems exist today that utilize electrical connectors to transmit large amounts of data at high speeds. For example, in a backplane communication system, a backplane circuit board interconnects a plurality of daughter card assemblies. The backplane circuit board includes an array of header connectors that mate with corresponding receptacle connectors of the daughter card assemblies. The receptacle connectors are mounted to a daughter card of the corresponding daughter card assembly. The header and receptacle connectors include complementary arrays of electrical contacts. In some systems, the header connector includes signal contacts and ground shields that are positioned between, for example, pairs of the signal contacts. The receptacle connector includes signal contacts and corresponding ground contacts. During the mating operation, the signals contacts of the header and receptacle connectors engage one another to form signal pathways between the header and receptacle connectors. The ground contacts of the receptacle connector engage the ground shields of the header connector.
There has been a general demand to increase the density of signal contacts and increase the speeds at which data is transmitted through the communication systems. Consequently, it has been more challenging to maintain a baseline level of signal quality. For example, in some cases, the electrical energy that flows through each ground shield of the header connector may be reflected and resonate within the respective ground shield. The electrical energy may radiate from one ground shield and couple with nearby ground shields thereby causing electrical noise. Depending on the frequency of the crosstalk noise, the crosstalk noise can reduce signal quality.
Accordingly, there is a need for electrical connectors that reduce the electrical noise caused by separate ground shields.